A variety of test and measurement devices exist for use in connection with RF signals. In many cases, these devices include components that provide real-time processing and other functionality that occurs as a time-varying signal is received, and other components that perform off-line functionality, such as a detailed signal analysis that occurs after a signal event has been captured and stored.
Test and measurement operations are often controlled using triggering methods. For example, in the above case of discovering and capturing signal events for subsequent study, signal captures can be based on a trigger that is activated when certain signal characteristics are detected. Use of such a trigger conserves computing resources by only capturing signals that may potentially be of interest.
Although existing triggers are adequate in many cases, a variety of common signal situations exist that cannot be effectively detected by existing triggers. In addition, many existing triggering methods are imprecise, and limit the ability of the user to particularly specify signal events of interest.